Kevin De Bruyne Calls Arsenal the Best Team in the World

Kevin De Bruyne walked off the pitch in Naples with nothing to show for 90 hard minutes but a sore body and a sharper sense of reality. His Napoli side had gone toe to toe with Arsenal. The verdict from one of the game’s great playmakers was blunt.

“The best team in the world.”

Arsenal’s Champions League campaign opened with a statement win in Italy on Wednesday night, a controlled 1-0 victory sealed by captain Martin Odegaard. One clean strike, one goal, three points. It was the kind of measured, ruthless performance that title-winning sides churn out on difficult European nights.

Arteta’s men arrived in Naples carrying the weight of expectation. Premier League champions for the first time since 2004. Fresh from a Champions League final appearance, where they fell only on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain. A team no longer judged on potential, but on trophies.

They played like it.

Odegaard’s goal settled the scoreline, but not the argument over who dominated the evening. Arsenal moved the ball with authority, stretched Napoli, and gradually turned the screw. The win extended their perfect start to the season to five matches in all competitions, a run that already hints at another relentless campaign on multiple fronts.

De Bruyne, now the beating heart of Napoli’s midfield after his glittering years at Manchester City, could only acknowledge what he had just faced. Speaking to CBS Sports after the game, he was asked whether Arsenal might be the best side on the planet right now.

“I agree, they are the champions of England and lost the last Champions League final on penalties, so we know how strong they are,” he said, as reported by English newspaper Metro.

It wasn’t the response of a man looking for excuses. It was respect, earned over 90 minutes.

Napoli did not collapse under the weight of Arsenal’s reputation. De Bruyne insisted his team produced a performance they can build on.

“I think we actually put in a good performance,” he reflected. “When we tried to play, we had some moments where we created chances, and of course we had to sit back at times, and in the second half we gave them a lot of chances, we were very deep.”

That was the pattern of the night. Patches of Napoli ambition, bursts of quality in transition, but long spells spent pinned back by Arsenal’s structure and control. When Napoli did break out, they found half-chances, not clear ones. At this level, that thin margin is often the difference between frustration and a famous result.

De Bruyne still saw progress.

“But then we had some good moments again,” he added. “And for me that is an improvement on what I saw in the first few matches. We have started to play better, and that is a good thing.”

Those words matter. De Bruyne has seen peak sides up close, having driven Manchester City through domestic dominance and deep into Europe. When he calls Arsenal the best in the world right now, it lands differently. It comes from a player who has spent years setting the standard others tried to reach.

For Arsenal, the compliment is another marker of how far they have travelled under Arteta. No longer the plucky challenger, no longer the nearly side. Champions of England. Champions League finalists. Now walking into hostile European grounds and walking out with businesslike 1-0 wins.

For Napoli, and for De Bruyne, the night brought no points, but a clear bar to measure themselves against. Arsenal are already operating at that height. The real question is who can stay with them as the season’s demands intensify.